


rotational dynamics

by silkbonnet



Category: Grey's Anatomy, Station 19 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Ballet, F/F, Friends With Benefits, Gen, Photography, Strangers to Annoyances, the young and the pretentious x, to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27629036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkbonnet/pseuds/silkbonnet
Summary: the summer before her final year in undergrad, maya meets carina and her world starts spinning.
Relationships: Maya Bishop/Carina DeLuca
Comments: 13
Kudos: 69





	rotational dynamics

**Author's Note:**

> bc it's panorama outside and im over zoom university. and miss being on campus.  
> they're in their senior year, and only a little bit chaotic. everything's fine.

.

The sun is coming up, deep oranges and pinks illuminating the sky and streaming through the window. It's early, just about dusk, and the city looks deceptively calm. 

At least from the tenth floor. This high up, Maya can only just make out the shapes in the streets, more formless blobs than solid figures.

Stepping away from the window, she goes back to looking for her clothes, what she was doing before she was distracted by the sunrise. It's not a view she catches often, her place only has one window and it's not big; hardly ideal for watching the sunrise.

Grabbing her shirt from where it was strewn across the desk, she bunches it in her hand then bends, peeling her pants from the rug, where they were carelessly tossed the night before.

Stepping into them, she scans the room for the last item: her bra. 

It's not on the floor, under the cluttered desk or under the bed. 

Climbing onto the mattress, Maya grabs the edges of the covers, brings them to her chest and shakes them out. It's a wasted effort because she gets nothing but random pieces of goose feathers(did she sleep with a secret Kennedy? Everything in this apartment is ridiculously expensive) and just about gives up.

Her sweater is oversized, so, really, she can forgo the bra. She doesn't want to leave it hough. It's one of the few she owns that doubles as a regular bra _and_ a sports bra and it wasn't cheap.

Scanning the bedroom one last time, she decides to broaden her horizons and ducks into the living room. It's where they started out, and it should have been the first place she checked because, she spies her bra hanging off the head of a guitar that's artfully tucked in a corner. 

Maya carefully frees it, then snaps it onto her body. She's pulling her sweater over her head when the bedroom door opens.

"That's a '69 mustang."

That means absolutely nothing to Maya, but she turns to face her host, offers an, "oh, cool," though she has no desire to be pulled into any sort of longer conversation. She got what she came for and if the clock above the couch is right, she's very much overstayed her welcome. 

Really, she should have been out the moment they were done, but when...Maya can't remember her name right this second—her host—asked if she was good to go another round, she said yes and then after, let the soft warmth of the thick covers lull her to sleep. She regrets that now. 

Shortstack(Maya's decided to go with that) is clearly waiting for her to say more and it's not that she isn't attractive—in the daylight she's even shorter than Maya remembers and Maya's no lurch herself but this woman can't be more than five feet even, but she's hot and built—very much her type. That doesn't matter; Maya doesn't do morning afters, especially small talk.

"This was fun. But I should head out, I'll see you around, maybe?" 

"Sure. But you might want to do something about that." Shortstack says, pointing at her neck.

Maya glances down then rolls her at herself; she can't see her own neck, obviously. Walking up to Shortstack, who moves back to let her pass, she enters the bedroom and heads directly to the adjoining bathroom. 

Under the harsh LED lights, she can see faint marks on her neck. Most of them aren't super obvious but her neckline isn't high enough to cover it and one particularly red mark stands out. 

"I've got concealer," Shortstack says, coming up behind her. "But you're about 3 shades lighter than me so it might just make things worse." 

Maya gives the marks on her neck one last considering look then shrugs. It's not that obvious and honestly, she doesn't care. Shortstack thinks she's headed to class and maybe she should pretend she gives a shit about going out like this, but Maya doesn't actually plan on seeing her again so she can think whatever she wants. 

"It's fine. It's not like anyone's actually going to ask me what it is," Maya says, "I'll just leave it. But thanks anyway, uh...?" 

"You don't remember my name do you?" Shortstack asks, rolling her eyes.

"Not even a little."

"It's Dearborn." She says, grinning. She's not offended in the least and Maya decides she likes her. A more delicate person might have landed on that before sleeping with her, but Maya's not wired that way. Usually, all it takes is attraction and evidence of good hygiene for her to decide someone's a worthwhile lay. 

Dearborn. It's not what she was expecting—not that she was expecting anything—but something must change on Maya's face(she's not an ass, she wouldn't shit on someone's name—it's early and she's still adjusting to being upright) because Dearborn's grin widens.

"My parents aren't evil, they didn't actually name me Dearborn. It's my last name. But all my friends call me that." 

Maya just nods. Half her mind is still trying to sort out that it's morning. She can thank Vic's jungle juice for that; her stupid mix is so strong it qualifies as moonshine. Usually, Maya knows better, doesn't have more than a cup at most, but last night was their end of year party and she drank a lot. 

She and Dearborn both. It's how they met, playing some silly drinking game, first against each other, then teaming up and demolishing the arrogant fine arts majors. Dearborn grew bored after their 3rd win and paused the game to ask Maya to show her where the bathroom was. The second they got in the hallway, she'd pressed Maya up against the left wall, kissed her hard, tasting of salt and lime and asked if Maya wanted to come home with her. The uber back to hers had been called soon after. 

Maya's no lightweight but the after effects of Vic's cocktails always leaves her sluggish, even the morning after. It's fine; her head only hurts a lot. 

"We're friends?" It's out before Maya can really think it through, but once again: early. Plus, her head feels like little man is tap dancing on her brain. 

Dearborn squints at her. "Guess not? But I feel like someone who had their face in my crotch not even an hour ago, should know my name."

Fair. Even though Maya wouldn't put it quite like that. Last night, Dearborn's bluntness was amusing, part of the draw. In the light of day though, it's a little less so. Maya really needs to leave.

"Right. So," this is always the worst part and why she tries never to sleep over. "I should go, I have—"

"An exam. You mentioned."

"Uh, yeah that." She's done with school for the year but that's her go to. Her main excuse used to be that she was just busy, but she stopped with the vague reasons when a random hook-up months ago offered to, 'run errands with her'. 

That was weird enough that these days, Maya always has concrete excuse ready. She's sure Dearborn knows she's lying, she was at their party afterall, but Maya doesn't care; she doesn't actually plan on seeing her again. 

"Yeah, that." Dearborn gives her a knowing look. "You probably don't want to go to class with vodka breath though. Extra brushes are under the sink." Dearborn points at the cupboard then turns and leaves.

She's basically just told Maya her breath stinks and she would be offended, but her mouth actually tastes stale and she can almost see the waves of ethanol coming off her body. Crouching to the floor, she opens the cupboard, grabs a cheap white brush and stands to slather some toothpaste on it. 

She brushes her teeth while scrolling through her phone, ignoring various notifications and going directly to her messages. 

She's got 7 missed calls and over 20 texts from Vic; each one is more frantic than the next. 

**vic 4:49am** [NEW ROOMIE'S PLANE LANDED EARLY, HE'S OTW MAYA COME HOME]

 **vic 5:20am** [MAYA STOP FUCKING THE HOT STRANGER AND COME HOME]

 **vic 5:20am** [OKAY FINISH AND COME(hah)]

 **vic 5:57am [** I NEED HELP TO CLEAN IM SRS HE CANT SEE HOW WE LIVE HE'LL TAKE BACK HIS SECURITY DEPOSIT]

**vic 6:07am** [ok trav says he cant do that but still. pls hurry up and come back! u promised 2 help me clean!!! and we reaaally need to. we made. quite a mess]

Vic must have given up after Maya's non-responses because the last text was sent over an hour ago, and it's just a series of angry face emojis. 

Maya types up a quick apology and that she's on her way and not even a full minute later, she gets a text from Vic telling her to ' _hurry her ass up'._

She rinses, wrangles her hair into something halfway presentable and leaves the bedroom. 

Dearborn is in her kitchen cooking something delicious, if the smell wafting around the room is any indication. Maya doesn't ask about it. Instead, she pats her pockets to make sure she's got everything; her phone, her wallet and her keys. Everything is present and accounted for and she's got a hand on the door knob, ready to take her leave when Dearborn calls out.

"Before you go," Dearborn says and Maya groans internally. She can see where this is going and she doesn't want it. At all. 

"I should really head out. I have that exam and I can't—"

"Just a sec," Dearborn rounds the kitchen island holding a giant plate of food. She doesn't even pretend to offer Maya some(not that she would accept) but it would be the polite thing to do, especially if she's going to make her talk some more. 

"You ever been to Boone?" Dearborn asks, putting her plate on the large mahogany dining table. 

She walks up to the coat rack and leans over Maya to rummage through the pocket of one of the jackets hanging there. 

Maya steps back and suppresses an eyeroll. She was so close. "Yeah, a couple of times."

"Cool. If you're free, you should come out next week, I'm—"

"Look. I had fun. But that's all. I don't—"

Dearborn raises an eyebrow, "you didn't let me finish."

"You were about to ask me out, right? And I'm flattered. Really. But this was just fun. I'm really not looking for anything more."

Dearborn doesn't even wait for her to be done before she starts laughing. "Wow," she says, between snickers. "Believe in yourself much?"

Maya bristles, confused. "What?" 

"I wasn't asking you out. Love the confidence, though." Dearborn rolls her eyes and looks like she's about to start laughing again. 

This annoys Maya enough that her next question comes out a little curt, "then what—"

"I'm in a band." Dearborn nods towards her guitar. "I was asking you to come to one of our shows, or," she seems to finally find what she's looking for and hands Maya a flyer. "Check us out online. We're amazing, _obviously_ , but the market is saturated and we need all the exposure we can get. Our soundcloud and socials are all on there."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Dearborn just smirks and rolls her eyes. "I had fun but you didn't, like, change my world or anything."

"I get it."

"Good. Look us up, if you want." She brushes past Maya and sits down at the table. "And you have to be firm with the door, on your way out. Sometimes it sticks."

Maya doesn't say anything at the obvious dismissal, just pockets the flyer and steps into her shoes.

She's in the elevator before she pulls out the flyer. It's well made, clearly professional. The band name, 'STAGEDEXIT' shines up at her in glossy black letters, half covered by an insignia she can't make out. Some tiny proud part of her wants to toss it, but their socials are on the bottom and Maya's a little curious. Besides, Boone is notoriously hard to get into and if anything, she'll have a contact now. 

/

The subway is packed. 

Maya hops in right as the doors slide closed and she's shoved beside a guy with a puppy in his backpack. Usually, she hates these types because the dogs are never quiet but this one just wags its tongue and sniffs at the air. Maya prefers bigger dogs but but the beagle is cute and its curious eyes that take in every little noise almost makes the sweltering, stench of the subway ride worth it. Almost. 

The train stops twice, (for 20 minutes each time) because it's a day that ends in 'Y' and at the stop before hers, some guys get on and decide to grace the entire car with their rendition of some top 40 song. Why they're belting at the ass crack of morning, Maya will never know because the the moment she gets to her stop, she bodily makes her way to the platform.

/

  
She's already late and the line is long but the strawberry strudel at The Roast are the best and Vic loves them; they'll be a better apology than just showing up on time. 

"Hey there," the barista says. "Did you want to try our new matcha mix? It's got—"

"I'm good," Maya interrupts with a sincere smile. He's just doing his job but she also doesn't want to hear the company spiel right now. "I'll just take half a dozen strudels and two mochas. One large with double cream and the other medium with light milk. Thanks."

The barista nods, and punches in her order, pausing to give her a genuine smile when she drops a fiver in the tip jar.

Maya's phone rings as she's waiting and she knows it's Vic before she even picks up.

"No, move the couch to the left, Trav," she pauses. "Your other left—"

"Vic?" 

"Oh hey. Look who's out from her sex haze. Hope it was fun. Are you almost home? Travis is a shit helper."

Maya hears a faint, "oh, screw you," in the background and laughs.

"I'm at The Roast, I wanted to grab some breakfast. I thought we would need the energy."

Vic snorts. "It's not going to be that easy. You literally left me hanging and Travis had to come from SoHo. He's been whining since he got here like it was a trek through the Sahara."

"You woke me up and my lyft was expensive! Also, traffic!" Travis shouts.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll do dishes for a week. And garbage." 

"You had me at dishes, but no take backs!" Vic says. "Just hurry up, our new roomie already came by to drop off his bags—you were right, he does go by Andrew, Andrea is just is just name on paper, apparently. Anyway, the place was so messy I ended up telling him we got robbed."

Maya snickers. "No, you didn't."

"No, I didn't," she can almost see Vic's smirk. "I shoved everything into the hall closet. And also, your room."

"My _room_?"

"People who leave me stranded don't get to be mad at how I solve problems."

"Solve prob..." Maya pivots, "what about the kitchen?" Last Maya remembers it was a mess of cans and bottles and old pizza.

"He didn't have time to really check it out, he and his sister really just dropped off his bags—"

"His sister?"

"His _hot_ sister!" Travis adds. 

"Our new roommate has a hot sister?"

That didn't come up when they ran their background check. Granted, they didn't do much. He was recommended by a friend of a friend of Mason, so all they did was extensively stalk him online and make sure his student card was actually valid(they've been tricked before, people are fucking weird). The most interesting thing about him was that he seemed to travel a lot and had dated the same girl since high school. No hot sister. Maya would have remembered.

Vic sighs. " _No_ , Maya."

"No, she isn't hot?" 

"No, to the the thing that just happened with your voice just now."

"What thing?" 

"Strudels and mocha?" 

"One sec," Maya says, walking up to the counter. The bag is heavier than she expects and when she cracks it open, she notes that the barista added 3 more strudels than she paid for.

"Have a good one," he says, and Maya spares him a friendly wave over her shoulder as she leaves the café.

Sticking her headphones in her phone, she picks up where they left off. "Nothing happened with my voice. I was just inquiring—"

"Hey, how far are you from the bodega right now?" 

She lets Vic change the subject because it'll be easier to grill Vic about their roommate's hot sister in person, anyway. "Like 3 minutes. Why?"

"Could you grab some milk? And salt. Some dumbass dumped all of ours out last night. I don't even know why we keep inviting anyone back." 

"You literally say that every time. But yeah I'll grab some. Might take a while though. I've got my hands full with pastry and coffee."

"Ah. I can send Travis down, if it's too much?"

"No, it's fine, I'll get it."

"Cool. And I know you're bringing strudel but all the cleaning and redecorating has me starved. Gonna order Chinese, you want in?" 

"Always. Extra spring rolls please."

"Sure. Did you want the spicy shrimp sauce too or just your—"

"Wait."

"Hm?"

"What redecorating?"

"You're right. No shrimp, I'll just get your usual. Bye!"

"Vic!"

/

Sunny's Food Market isn't crowded, but he's helping a customer; he waves at Maya anyway, and she lifts an elbow up in response. 

They've been coming to his store since before they even moved into this neighborhood. First, to grab warm Kaiser rolls in between classes, during their first year, and later, because Sunny's is the cheapest and closest grocer in the neighborhood. 

He doesn't have everything, but he's got the important stuff, like Mexican coke and special edition lays chips. 

Maya adds a bag of those very chips to her basket, along with 2 jugs of milk(they go through it like water) and the biggest box of kosher salt she can find.

Walking up to the cash, she sees that the same customer from before is still there. 

Maya gives her an absent once over, noting that she's not really dressed for the weather. It might be a warm spring but it's still April and there's a chill outside. The woman's short black dress isn't really going to be much against the wind that's already started howling outside. She runs a hand through her hair and sighs loudly, and Maya peels her eyes away from her legs and looks back to the isles. 

She glances briefly at the candles and incense crowding the top of isle two, but her attention is pulled back to the woman at the counter. 

She asks for something in a low voice and Maya can't make it out but, she hears a hint of an accent. Mediterranean, maybe. 

Not that she's eavesdropping. She's bored in line and the woman(or at least the back of her)is nice to look at, is all. 

"Do you have them?" She asks, softly. She's got an objectively nice voice. Is what Maya would say, if she was the sort of person to notice shit like that. Which she isn't. The effects of Vic's demon juice still haven't all the way worn off, obviously.   
  
"Not quite. But I have heard from my customers that the camels are very similar?" Sunny grabs a pack from under the counter and holds them up.

Black dress(everyone is getting a nickname name today, it seems) just nods and she must gesture for an additional pack because Sunny grabs one more. "And," she says, tossing a bright red lighter on the counter, "this too." 

She finishes the transaction and blows past Maya, almost colliding with her in her rush to leave. Her orange scarf blows as she pushes through the door and obscures her face but Maya gets a a hint of her perfume, something aromatic and rich. 

"Tourist," Sunny says, by way of explanation when he sees Maya (not) staring after her. "She wanted these European cigarettes but I only have local."

"She seemed kinda annoyed." Maya says, deciding at the last second to grab some gum. 

"I don't think so," Sunny says, ever gracious. "More sad and stressed."

Sunny fancies himself something of a people reader and he's always trying to pull Maya into long conversations about humanity and the greater good. She can tell that's what he'll do now, if she lets him, and she likes Sunny, but she isn't in the mood to discuss the human condition and it's fallacies. 

"Maybe she got mugged, or missed her stop and got lost. MTA can really suck." Maya says, quickly stuffing her items into a paper bag. 

"It can be confusing for tourists," Sunny agrees with a smile, not charging her for the gum. 

"Well, what are you going to do. The city is the city," Maya grabs her bag from the counter and with a goodbye nod, and a message to say hi to his wife, she leaves.

/ 

  
"What the hell."

"Oh god, finally." Vic grabs the bags from her, takes out two strudels and shoves them into her mouth, one on top of the other. 

"What the hell?" Maya repeats, the disarray her apartment causing a word shortage in her brain. Travis uses this opportunity to liberate her coffee from her.

"Just a little reorganization."

"Why?" 

"Our new roomie inspired me. Fresh starts and all that."

"Where's the TV?" Maya says.

"I put it on the curb. We're book people now."

Maya knows she's lying, because she would have seen her flat screen on the stoop but it's not until she sees Vic's mouth twitch that she relaxes. "You're not funny.'

"It was a little funny."

"Ha, ha. Where's my TV?" 

"I didn't want to accidentally break your precious baby while we moved stuff around. It's in your room."

Maya just shakes her head and enters the kitchen. It's a short walk but she gets an even better look into their place and it's a lot. "Is this what it looked like when Andrew came in?"

"Nah," Travis says, hopping on the island and slurping Maya's drink. "It was normal but after he left, Vic got ideas." 

"Always terrifying," Maya says, only half joking. 

Vic rolls her eyes and grabs her coffee. It makes Maya miss her own and she pulls it out of Travis' firm grasp. 

"I was drinking that," he whines.

"I know, thanks," Maya shakes the cup. "It's half done, how did you drain this so quickly?" 

"I am but a growing boy," Travis says, all faux serious and Maya can't not smile.

"You owe me 7 bucks. This was the good stuff, from The Roast."

Travis nods his head sagely, "ah. No wonder it was so smooth." He grins when Maya shoves the almost empty cup back into his hands. "You're the best. Want to hear about your new roommate's hot sister?" 

"Duh." 

Vic looks up from where she's inhaling her third strudel. "No, later. We have to finish cleaning, Andrew will be back in an hour." 

"We're putting everything back." Maya says, ignoring Vic's pout.

"But I just moved the couch!" 

" _I_ moved the couch," Travis interjects.

"Whatever. Maya," Vic grabs her by the shoulders. "Look around, can't you see the vision?" 

"I can see a mess." Maya points at the couch, half facing the wall and the kitchen table that's now a living room table. The picture frames and paintings they keep on the side wall are stacked on the table, the side tables are nowhere to be found and other bits and bobs are scattered everywhere. 

Vic gazes around and it seems to finally click. "Okay, maybe we don't have to change everything right this second."

"Next weekend, after we've convinced Andrew we aren't insane, we'll switch some stuff around."

Vic smiles. "Yay. Also, don't get mad but I might have started rearranging your closet."

Maya groans. "We just had a talk about boundaries, Vic."

"Don't worry, I didn't finish. I got bored."

"Anything else?"

"I was going to vacuum for you but there was no need, you're freakishly neat." 

"Anything _relevant_ , Vic?" 

"Oh. No."

"Great, now," Maya turns Vic by her shoulders and pushes her towards the bedrooms. "Go get my TV."

/

  
Later, when the strudels are all gone and their place is back to normal(kitchen's still iffy but they got all the beer bottles out and the dishes are clean, as long as Andrew doesn't open the first three cupboards, it'll be passable) they settle on the couch and start in on their Chinese.

"So," Maya says, dropping into the couch, in the middle of Vic and Travis. "Hot sister. How hot are we talking exactly?" 

"Here we go." Vic says, at the same time that Travis says. "I don't have a horse in this race but I wouldn't kick her out of bed."

"How come we never saw anything about this sister when we looked him up?" Maya directs this at Vic and she shrugs. 

"I don't know. But I didn't get the impression that they were all that close. They were sorta cold with each other."

Maya frowns. "Is that going to be a problem? Did they seem like the type to have annoyingly loud fights?" 

"Nah," Vic stands up and heads to the kitchen, still talking. "It just seemed like they were strangers, more than siblings."

"Huh." Maya considers that. Andrew had seemed nice when they video chatted with him and read the extra long questionnaire Vic made him fill out, but experience has shown Maya that you don't really know someone until you've seen them on day 3 of a week with no sleep, drinking orange juice from the carton. 

"His sister was nice," Travis comments, setting his takeout on the centre table. "We talked a little while Vic showed Andrew around. She's a dancer—"

"She's a dancer?"

"No, bad Maya!" Vic says, suddenly coming up behind her. She's throwing small handfuls of something grainy at her, making Maya hold up her hand and duck.

"What the hell, Vic—is that salt? What are you _doing_?" 

Vic scrunches up her face and does what Maya thinks is supposed to be an approximation of her voice. " _Oh she's a dancer?"_

Maya just rolls her eyes and smacks Travis when he lets out a loud snort.

"You," Vic says, "are _not_ allowed to daydream about our roommate's sister!"

"I literally asked one question."

"Please. I know how you get and I know your type."

"Okay, one, I haven't even met her yet, she might not even be all that hot—"

"She's that hot," Travis says. "I might be extremely homosexual, but my eyes do work."

"Whatever. Eye of the beholder. And, I'm not out of control. I'm not going to sleep with our roommate's sister, I get the concept of boundaries. _Vic_."

Travis and Vic just give her blank stares and Maya scoffs. "I don't just bang everything with a pulse!"

"We know. And even if you did it's your right. We weren't being judgey, it's just..." Vic looks to Travis and he takes over.

"If you do what you usually do, you guys are going to be out of a roommate for sure. 

"Yeah. Because she'll be all heartbroken and sulky and then her brother is going to move out in some show of familial solidarity and we're going to be stuck with his third of the rent."

"Thought you said they weren't that close."

Vic just exhales loudly and drops down on them, lays flat across their laps. 

"And what do you mean by 'what I usually do?'" Maya asks. 

"Y'know," Travis leans back into the couch. "You've got a super efficient system going. But sometimes you can be a little..."

"Brusque."

Maya narrows her eyes. "What's wrong with that? Clarity stops any miscommunication." 

"Sure. But that doesn't always work out for you, does it?" 

Maya thinks on it, and sure, most of the people she sleeps with are on the same page as her, but once in a while she picks the wrong one and she has to go on a blocking spree. It's happened often enough that, her thumb is basically primed and ready to click that /block\ button at any sign of clinginess.

"And there's also your three night rule," Vic adds.

"Yeah, now you're just making shit up. I do not have a 3 night rule." 

"Maybe not explicitly," Vic says, somehow draping herself even more languidly across Maya's lap. "But it's implied."

It's true that she doesn't tend to do repeats but it isn't a _thing_. She just gets bored quickly. "Fuck me for having a healthy sex life, sorry I'm not Amish." 

Vic grins up at her but then schools her face into what Maya thinks is supposed to be a stern look. "What you do mostly works and we love that it makes you happy. But, girl-Deluca is off limits."

Travis makes a face at 'girl-DeLuca'. "Think I like hot sister better."

"Think they both suck. Why didn't either of you ask her for her name?" 

"We were busy trying to sell that we were normal people." 

"That must have been very challenging for you," Maya says, slapping Vic's hand away when she starts playing with her hair. 

"I was so refined and polite. It was exhausting." 

"We could probably look her up," Travis says, holding up his phone. "I bet her brother follows her"

"I would," Maya says, setting her takeout on the table. "But I've got a wedding shoot in an hour." 

Vic's eyes, which have been gradually closing as the conversation goes on, snap open at that. "You're doing wedding pictures again? What was the point of that long ass lecture you gave me last week, then? You were all, 'this goes against my artistic integrity, Hughes.'" 

"I looked at my chequing account and was reminded that money can be exchanged for goods and services." Maya shoots back, gently tapping Vic on the shoulder.

Vic chuckles and moves her feet to the ground so Maya can stand. 

"Maybe it'll be fun," Travis offers, eyes glued to his phone. 

"And maybe, you'll finally ask that chef guy out."

"Hey!" Travis objects.

"It's been 2 months. At this point ,you'll be 80 before you say more than two words to him and by then, the thrill will have worn off."

"Never," Travis says, going back to staring intently at his phone. Maya gets curious, girl-DeLuca's page can't be _that_ interesting. Climbing over Vic, she leans over Travis's shoulder to see what's got him so distracted. 

She groans when she sees his screen. It's not girl-DeLuca's profile(they really need to find out her name) instead, it's the chef Travis has been pining over for months. He's just staring at his feed like it's going to start moving. "Just screenshot the one you like best, my god." 

Vic says, through a yawn, "he likes the process of going on his page, thinks if he takes a screenshot it makes him creepy."

"Oh, it definitely does. But how is going on his page every hour on the hour less creepy?".

Travis frowns. "It maintains the illusion. Shut up."

"Sure." Maya pats him on the head, then pats Vic too, who smiles sleepily at her. 

"I'm going to shower and try not to think about selling my soul for half my rent."

"Ain't life great?" Vic says. Then, "should we shake on this girl-DeLuca thing?"

Maya enters her room, tugs her sweatshirt over head and rolls her eyes. "No, because we're not 10 and also, you two are overreacting. We're adults, it'll be fine. And I bet she won't even be my type."

"Sure, and Travis and his chef are getting married tomorrow!"

"Yeah Maya, lying is a sin!"

"Leave me alone!"

-

**Author's Note:**

> self indulgent art school au? don't mind if i do.


End file.
